Departing June 9, Ryan Gilhuly and Dwight Smith will embark on a journey , attempting to pedal from the Atlantic Coast, New Haven, CT to the Pacific Coast, Santa Barbara, CA with no amenities, hoping for anything the west has to offer and to raise awareness and donations for the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation's Arthur C. Luf Children's Burn Camp.

A message from the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation

Ryan and Dwight hope to raise $10,000 to support the burn camp, which will host 70 children between the ages of 8 and 18. They are determined to reach the West Coast as a personal challenge as well as helping young burn survivors.

Started in 1991, the Arthur C. Luf Children's Burn Camp is located in northern Connecticut on 176 acres. Every summer, burn survivors come to the burn camp, which is a safe and fun environment that helps kids heal emotionally and physically. The Burn Camp is free to the children, who come primarily from the Northeast and some foreign counteries, but any burn survivor child anywhere is welcome. More than 70 adult counselors, primarily active and retired firefighters and burn unit nurses, occupational and physical therapists, child psychologists and even a doctor will serve as mentors for the week.

It's also our goal to promote burn awareness and fire prevention and education, which we do year around. We sponsor a burn survivor, burned in a car accident that involved speeding and drinking alcohol, who speaks to high school students throughout Connecticut. We also support the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital, helping to purchase equipment.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Atchison, KS Posse

We ended up hanging out in Atchison, KS on Thursday night, July 17. They happen to have a carnival in town for their annual Amelia Earheart celebration, which meant a busy town and many people to meet.

We stopped into the only restaurant still open at 10:30pm for a late dinner and encountered three girls: Natalie, Lexie, Christina. (who then invited the rest of the crew to hang out) We had fun hanging out but it was getting late so we retired to our home for the night, the Benedictine College dorms, thanks to Mike and Donna.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Hey ryan, i heard about your trip from your dad at the 4th of july softball game. been following you guys since then. glad you recovered from last year. i have a deal for you and dwight, i'll give you 5 dollars each for each state you ride through. you have to be on the bikes, at the 4 corners (if you stop by there)of ut, co, az and nm you can't walk around you gotta be on the bikes to collect, hehe.i'll take your word that you rode around but a pic for proof would be ok to. should i be contacting you on myspace.this is bill r, aka kegs